


The Salt from Your Tears Makes Your Noodles Taste Better

by feelgood_mac



Series: Berujean Week 2016 [4]
Category: Shingeki no Kyojin | Attack on Titan
Genre: College AU, Fluff, M/M, Soccer, i have no idea how this got to 2.2k
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-03-19
Updated: 2016-03-19
Packaged: 2018-05-27 15:02:20
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,226
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/6289177
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/feelgood_mac/pseuds/feelgood_mac
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Jean invites Bertholdt to his soccer match and things get really gay really quick.</p>
            </blockquote>





	The Salt from Your Tears Makes Your Noodles Taste Better

**Author's Note:**

> day 5 and 6 for berujean week.
> 
> Holy shit how did this get so many words?? 
> 
> also, the soccer au no one asked for

Bertholdt had always thought he was straight; then he met his new roommate, Jean. They were both juniors in similar programs; Jean in Art History and Bertholdt in Art Therapy so they saw quite a lot of each other outside of their room, which was both a curse and a blessing for poor Bertholdt. Since he lived with him, he was exposed to the various ‘forms’ of Jean; sleepy Jean, sweaty Jean, fresh out of the shower Jean, no sense of boundaries when it comes to changing clothes Jean, and more. In class, Jean acted a little differently.   
Being a star soccer player in the Art program was hard for Jean, especially when his teammates tried to steal his sketchbooks. He eventually decided to leave them with Bertholdt after classes ended because “I trust you, just don’t look in them, okay?” And even though he was tempted daily to sneak a peek, Bert never looked because all artists understand that an artist’s sketchbook is private.

One day, as he was walking back to their dorm from his last class with sketchbooks in hand, Jean ran over to him from across the courtyard, his jersey half on.

“Bert! I’m glad I caught you.” The blond panted lightly, running a hand through his slightly sweaty hair. “I know you’ve probably got somewhere to be or something to do but we’ve got a home game tonight and I’ve got an extra ticket from Coach Mike.”

“And you’re asking me?” Bertholdt looked around a bit before continuing. “You should ask your friends first; I don’t want-“

Jean cut him off by slapping the ticket to the boy’s chest, a faint blush on his cheeks. “You _are_ my friend, Bertholdt, so I’m asking you.”

“Thank you.” Bertholdt could feel his face heating up and he hoped that Jean would blame it on the heat rather than happiness. “I’ll be there.”

“Thanks, man!” Jean’s coach called for him, reminding him that they had to get ready. “Shit, I gotta go. Make sure you sit where I can see you!”

“O-Okay!” Bertholdt waved at his roommate as he jogged back to the rest of his team. He looked at the ticket and saw that the game start in a couple hours. He would have to change his clothes since he had spilled some paint on his pants earlier that morning but he had plenty of time.

He did not have time. It was 45 minutes to game time and the teams were already warming up most likely and yet Bertholdt was rummaging through his closet trying to find something that didn’t scream ‘poor art student’.

“Shit. All I have are sweaters and old t-shirts!” He ran out of his room and down the hall to Reiner and Connie’s room, hoping that they weren't ‘occupied’. “Reiner, Connie, I need help!”

Reiner answered the door, hair askew and wearing only boxers. “Dude, timing. Work on it.” Connie was scrambling to get dressed behind the blond, tripping over his pant legs.

“Clothes, I need to borrow clothes.” Bert wheezed out, gripping the door so Reiner couldn’t shut it on him. “Game. I’m late. Shit.”

“Bert, calm down and get in here.” Reiner pulled him into the room and pushed him into the chair that Connie wasn’t hiding behind. “You need clothes for what? A game? Which game and where?”

“Soccer game. H-He invited me and I promised that I would be there but now I’m gonna miss the beginning because all my clothes are shit!” He tried to stand up again but Reiner pushed him back down.

“Jean invited you to the game? That’s great!” Connie grinned over the back of the other chair. “We can fix you up real nice.”

It took a few minutes because Connie refused to come out from behind the chair and Reiner kept cooing over Bertl but eventually the brunet left the dorms dressed in his own paint-stained jeans and one of Reiner’s old sweatshirts from high school. He raced down to the field and made it just in time to see the kickoff.

From the start, Jean wasn’t playing too well which made him worry. Jean always played well, his stats were the highest in their region. The fans around Bert had noticed Jean’s change and were yelling for him to get his head in the game. He was sitting at the top of the bleachers, which weren’t very tall since their school was small, but he could see the entire field perfectly. Jean kept glancing at the crowd when he should have been facing the goal, causing him to lose the ball on many occasions. The coach didn’t call for a timeout but he was visibly frustrated. 

Looking down at the ticket in his hands, Bertholdt suddenly remember what Jean had said earlier. _“Make sure you sit where I can see you!”_ Gripping the ticket tight, he stood up and cupped his hands around his mouth as he yelled, “Let’s go, Jean, you can do it!”

Jean whipped his head around and eyed the crowd, spotting Bert in just a few seconds. His face lit up before narrowing in focus on the field. His playing instantly turned around; by the end of the first half, he had scored 2 goals and had helped stop at least five goal attempts.

During half-time, Bertholdt made his way over to the concession stand to buy a bottle of water; his throat wasn’t used to all of the yelling he’d been doing. Hearing his name, he turned around and saw Jean waving from the sidelines before he was hugged and spun around by one of his teammates. Bert blushed as the people around him laughed and pat his back.

The start of the second half was strong; Jean looked like he wasn’t even tired even though he was dripping with sweat. The lineup had changed a little since their goalie needed his knee wrapped but it still didn’t slow them down. Bertholdt could feel himself getting more and more invested in the game; he cheered whenever they made a good play and asked the people next to him about various parts of the game during timeouts.

Eventually, the game came to a close with the home team winning and the crowd storming the field. Bert chose to stay back so he could avoid the crowd and get back to his car as soon as possible. He was doing just that when he heard someone running towards him, turning around a second too late as somebody jumped on top of him, knocking both of them to the ground.

“We won! You came and we won!” Jean was straddling Bertholdt’s waist, hands gripping onto those of the boy below him. “I didn’t see you and I thought you didn’t come but you did!”

“Of course I came. You asked me to.” He smiled up at his roommate, too happy to care that he was getting dirty. “You were really great out there.”

“I sucked in the beginning though.” Jean let go of Bertholdt’s hand so he could rub the back of his neck sheepishly. “I was, uh, too focused on looking for you.”

He frowned a little, feeling guilty. “I wanted to get here early but I couldn’t find anything to wear and Reiner and Connie were too busy laughing to help me.”

“Bert, you look amazing no matter what you wear.”

They both blinked a few times before blushing heavily and turning their heads. Jean helped Bertholdt up off of the ground and moved to go over to his teammates but Bert caught his hand.

“I can drive you home!” His heart was pounding in his chest and his chest was tight but he smiled. “If you need a ride back, that is.”

Jean squeezed his hand as he nodded. “I’d like that. I just gotta go talk to coach first. Stay right here til I get back!”

Bertholdt waited. And waited. And he waited a little bit more before Jean finally came back, changed out of his uniform and into his warm ups.

“Sorry! The assistant coach likes to talk a lot.” Jean heaved his bag up higher on his shoulder and nudge Bertholdt, grinning. “You gonna treat me to dinner? I did score a lot of points today.”

Bert, bless his little gay heart, nearly fainted. Does he mean as friends or like… a date? He wondered.

“Yo, Bert, you okay?” The blond steadied the boy, concern flashing across his face. “You really don’t have to buy me dinner, if that’s what you’re worried about.” He pouted a little and looked at their feet. “I was just joking about that. Sort of.”

“No! No, no, I mean-“ Bertholdt slapped his forehead and dragged his hand down his face, trying to calm himself down. “I _want_ to buy you dinner, it’s just that your friends, um, _your_ other friends probably want to do that.”

“Who cares? I wanna go with you.” Jean reached up to ruffle Bert’s already messed up hair, a soft smile on his face. “Just let me clean up back at the dorm and then we can go wherever you want.”

Bertholdt was silent for the rest of their walk to the car and the drive home; he was playing over everything that could go wrong and he almost wanted to back out on their plans but then he thought of Jean smiling after the game and that made everything else disappear. 

It didn’t take Jean very long to clean up once they got back to their room and they were soon on their way to a local noodle restaurant they both liked. Once they arrived, Bertholdt rushed through ordering their food as Jean found a table for them to sit at. Their food was soon ready and he took it to their table, nearly tripping over someone’s foot. Jean got up and helped him steady the tray before setting it down on the table.

“You’re really jumpy tonight. Is everything okay?” The blond mumbled around a mouthful of noodles, grimacing when some of the sauce got on his nose.

Bertholdt leaned over and wiped Jean’s nose with his napkin before gasping quietly and dropping the napkin on the table. “E-Everything’s fine! Totally fine! Just, uh, thinking about…stuff.”

Jean set down his fork and gripped Bert’s forearm on the table. “Okay, yeah, no. Everything is not fine. What’s wrong?”

He squeaked quietly and bit his thumbnail as he tried to think of a feasible excuse. “Um, finals?”

“Final aren’t for another month so, no.” Tawny eyes glared at the brunet before softening. “Please, Bert, I’m just worried. Everything was fine, great actually, until I brought up dinner. Did you have other plans?”

“No, it’s just, I’m overthinking about stuff that’ll never happen. I’ll try to forget about it.” Bertholdt tried to smile but it turned into a grimace so he started shoveling noodles into his mouth to try to keep Jean from asking any further questions. It didn’t work.

“I’ve been doing that a lot lately too. Maybe I could help you out?” 

Bertholdt struggled to hold in his laughter. Jean helping him figure out how to ask Jean out? Yeah, that would never work. “It’s okay, Jean, Just forget about it.”

“No! I’m worried that I’ve said something wrong or did something wrong and you avoiding answering is making me worry more.” Jean looked so upset that Bertholdt couldn’t think properly and stop himself before he said: 

“I like you.”

“You…like me? As in-“

“As in, I want to date you, yes. That’s what I was thinking about.” Bertholdt kept his eyes on his plate, knowing that if he looked at Jean he would cry. “I was thinking about how this could be a date but of course that’s just wishful thinking and now you’re going to want to switch roommates and I’m sorry.”

Jean, still shocked, took a bit to fully understand everything Bert said. “Wait, wait. You were acting all weird because you want this to be a date?”

Bertholdt gripped his fork before nodding, tears dripping down into his food. “I’m really sorry. I can see if one of the other guys on our floor will switch rooms with me; I don’t want you being uncomfortable.”

“No, don’t do that!” Jean grabbed both of Bertholdt’s hands and squeezed them. “I like you too. I draw you in my sketchbook because I like you and I asked you to come to the game because I like you; I asked you out to dinner, sort of, because I like you. I want this to be a date just as much as you do.”

“Really?” Bertholdt’s voice was quiet. “You draw me?”

Jean nodded and grabbed his napkin to wipe the brunet’s tears. “Yeah, I do. Please don’t move out; I know it’ll be awkward at first but since neither of us really have time to go on real dates, we could just stay in our dorm and hang out.”

“That’s sounds really nice. I would actually prefer that.” He laughed a little before wiping his face and smiling at Jean. “This weekend we could watch that movie you just got.”

Jean leaned over the table to kiss Bertl’s tear-stained cheek. “As long as I get to be with you, I don’t care what we do.”


End file.
